How to Measure Results on Social Media

Success for real estate professionals in the social environment requires a balance between their social goals and the time and other resources available for reaching them. However, starting with a realistic plan can set a course for striking this balance.

Social Media for Every Type of User

When performed and managed correctly, social media is effective and accessible to all real estate professionals, though the perception that its full potential can be realized quickly is simply misleading.

To assist real estate agents in understanding the social media results they can expect from a particular level of investment, Lumentus Social analyzed more than 100 real estate professionals’ social media pages of independent and franchised brokerages in various markets. Following our analysis, we identified four types of users, each based on patterns of activity, engagement, and response level.

Sometimes User – Posting irregularly and only engaging with those who directly contact them.

New to Social – Have built pages, though they are mostly static users and can actively view others’ social activity while seldomly engaging with them.

Results Measurement

Whether reaching a personal milestone or business goal, measuring results is critical to long-term success.

Topline Tips

Account for the time, resources, and effort invested in social media to ensure that the outcome is supported by the investment.

Identify the most successful social media program features, as well as those that underperform, and adjust your program as needed, while maintaining your primary objectives.

The key to measurement is setting goals. If you have specific goals, you can achieve them, if you don’t, you often tend to lose momentum. Below are specific social media metrics you could measure and the benefit of each:

Number of followers: While building a large follower base is decreasingly valuable on platforms like Facebook, it does send an immediate signal to people who find your page. You want to set a minimum number of connections on each platform.

Monthly engagement: Once you are consistently using social media, a good way to measure the value of what you post is to gauge how many people like, comment, share, re-tweet etc. Driving this number up each month means you are improving your value to your audience, and higher engagement rates increases your audience reach.

Audience reach: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer analytics tools that provide information on how many people see your content. You should review activity by month to determine overall visibility of your posts, and using these tools, you can determine if your engagement, reach, and visibility is growing month over month.

Website Traffic: Social media is a key driver of website traffic. With Google Analytics, you can see what percentage of your website traffic comes from social media channels, and you can increase those numbers over time.

Leads: A lead refers to new phone numbers or emails collected through social media campaigns. Typically, there is a separate submission form on a special landing page. Social media posts or ads can drive potential new clients to that special landing page to collect their information.

It matters less what your specific goals are, numbers-wise, but it does matter that you set a goal and consistently evaluate your success in reaching it. Once you can compare your month-over-month numbers, you’ll begin to see where your personal successes will lie going forward.

Note: Once you are active on multiple social platforms and want to measure multiple metrics, you could consider licensing a social analytics tool, like Locowise, Socialbakers, or Sprout Social.

User Type

Types of Measurement

Sample Results

Considerations for Growth

Power User

Leads

Website referral traffic

Reach

Engagement rate

I collected 100 new email addresses.

Social media is driving 30% of my website traffic.

My brand exposure has improved by 100% YOY.

My client engagement rate has risen 50%.

Regularly fine-tune and improve results over time.

Use Google Analytics to further assess web traffic quality resulting from your social activity.

Regular User

Network growth

Reach

My network is growing 10% per month.

My audience reach/engagement has increased 25% over the last three months.

Use the platform analytics to understand the types of posts your audience engages with most to deliver better-performing content.

Sometimes User

Network size

Reach

I grew my network by 200 connections.

1,000 members of my target audience view my posts each month.

Increase the consistency of your activities and focus your time and energies on the activities that have either generated the best results or show potential.

New User

Network size

Findability

My connections have increased to 100.

My Facebook and LinkedIn profiles appear when my name is searched.

Assume the perspective of people who are looking for you online. Log out of the platform you are using, whether Facebook, Twitter or other, and search your name to view what other people see when they perform their own search.

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About Us

Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate is a dynamic real estate brand that offers a full range of services to brokers, sales associates and home buyers and sellers. Using innovative technology, sophisticated business systems and the broad appeal of a lifestyle brand, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate embodies the future of the real estate industry while remaining grounded in the tradition of home. Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC is a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp., a global provider of real estate services.